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The college selection process is a tough choice for any student, let alone a student athlete.

Nashoba Regional alum and Bowdoin College senior Coby Horowitz never had any doubt about where he would attend college, but when he first stepped on campus nobody could foresee the success he would have over his career.

Horowitz, a 10-time All-American winner, achieved the highest honor bestowed upon a collegiate runner when he won the Division 3 national championship in the mile on Saturday. With the title he became the first Bowdoin College male to win an individual NCAA Division 3 title in program history.

The milestone caps off an impressive career, which also featured running the fastest mile in NCAA Division 3 indoor history, and a group national title as part of a distance medley relay team.

"(Horowitz) is a gifted natural athlete," Bowdoin head coach Peter Slovenski said. "He was healthy season after season, and kept getting better. Our training and his own personal aspirations grew incrementally. He was All-American all three seasons sophomore year, and to continue that improvement to be a national champion his senior year is a great testament to his work ethic and athletic intelligence. He is the most highly decorated runner in recent Bowdoin history."

Horowitz started the college search process at a young age, visiting dozens of schools when his older sister was going through the college selection process. As track letters started rolling in through his career, the amount of college visits he made exceeded 30.

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In high school, the Stowe native peaked his senior year, becoming the second-best two-miler in New England (8:58.17), but by that time his college decision was set in stone.

"My sister ended up going to Bowdoin, so I visited that more than any other school," Horowitz said. "Through meeting the coach and the kids on the team, it just felt like a place I could be for four years. None of the other schools I visited felt right, except for Bowdoin."

When Horowitz arrived on-campus national elite caliber teammates showed him the proper way to train and prepare for excellence.

Matt Hillard was one influential upperclassman who teamed with Horowitz, during Horowitz's first track season in 2011, to earn a fifth place performance in the distance medley relay (10:03.46). It was the first All-American award for the collegiate newbie, but surprisingly nine more would come.

"We had national-caliber athletes who guided me through that process," Horowitz said. "The way it works at Bowdoin is you always have guys who you can follow their example and figure out what's best for the team."

By sophomore year, Horowitz was back at nationals for indoors in the distance medley, and earned his first national title, setting a Division 3 championship meet record of 9:59.67. Although the national title was a huge accomplishment, Horowitz made his first trip as an individual to nationals a few months later during outdoors.

Since then he returned every season on the big stage, falling short of one elusive individual goal.

This indoor season featured his best performances to date, highlighted by a Division 3 record-setting time in the mile at the All-New England Championships (4:00.41). He entered nationals as the top seed in the country, and did not disappoint, winning with ease (4:08.40).

The achievement of an individual national title was all the more important, because it came in Horowitz's final attempt. Bowdoin's commencement ceremony in the spring falls on the same day as the national championships, and Horowitz plans to attend graduation to recognize his hard work in the classroom.

"I've gotten a lot of recognition for my athletics, going to 8 or 9 straight nationals, but I've probably put in more work in the classroom for school than track," Horowitz said. "I think knowing that this would be my last race worked well. It worked well in high school (running in the New England championship senior year), and the same thing happened here. I wanted to be sure that I'd win, so I took it out from the start, and being my last chance provided extra motivation."

Horowitz holds seven school records at Bowdoin, which includes four for indoors (mile, two-mile, 1,000m and distance medley), and three for outdoors (5,000m, 1,500m, and 4x800). The focus for the outdoor season is lowering his current records and getting some revenge on friendly rival Bates College.

"I'd like to lower the 1,500m record at our school, because we have a bunch of guys coming up that I'm worried will take some of the records away," Horowitz said. "Bates ran a good 4x800 last year at (Division 3) New England's. I'm trying to get our record back and lower that as well."

Horowitz and Slovenski worked together to manage his training schedule, in an effort to preserve Horowitz for future success down the road. The Bowdoin senior's advice to young athletes, looking at colleges, is to find a similar coaching style.

"I'd tell high school athletes to choose a coach that has your best interest at heart," Horowitz said. "A lot of kids I went to high school with over-trained or got injured. Coach and I had long term plans, and it was always fun and not a burden."

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